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Project storage options

When creating a project, you can choose the way it will be stored:

For the projects created using JAICF, these storage options are available if you select the JAICP cloud as the runtime environment. This feature is available on request.

External storage

JAICP projects can be stored in Git repositories.

Other version control systems like Mercurial or SVN are not supported.

Using Git for project storage has a number of advantages:

  • The ability to roll back the project to any previous version.
  • Easy collaboration and simultaneous development due to branching.
  • Flexible control over content development teams.

Repositories can be hosted on any hosting service, such as GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab.

GitHub

To use the GitHub repository to store the project, select GitHub on creating the project.

You can create a new GitHub repository for your project or connect an existing repository to JAICP:

Create new repository
Connect existing one
  1. On creating the project, select GitHub as the location to store the project. The GitHub authorization window opens.
  2. Sign in and allow JAICP access to your repository.
  3. On the project creation page, specify the GitHub repository settings:

    • Repository name

    • Visibility

      All GitHub visitors can see public projects, all registered GitHub users can edit them. For private projects, you can manage access and editing settings.

After you click Create project, the project with the specified settings will be created on GitHub.

  1. On creating the project, select GitHub as the location to store the project.
  2. Sign in to GitHub in a new window.
  3. On the project creation page, select the GitHub repository with the project and the branch.

After you click Create project, the GitHub repository will be connected to your project.

Other services

To store your project, you can use not only GitHub repository, but also repositories in other hosting services, for example, Bitbucket or GitLab. For that, select Another service when creating the project.

Fill in the fields:

  • Project name — the project name, required field.
  • Repository URL — the link to your repository.
  • Path — the relative path to the directory containing the contents of your project.

The content directory is the one which contains the chatbot.yaml configuration file.

  • Branch — the content branch, master by default.

This setting primarily affects the branch whose contents will be displayed in the editor. However, any channel may still use any branch.

Personal account

If you choose this way of creating a project, you should additionally provide the following fields:

  • Login — the username on the hosting service where the repository is located.
  • Personal access token — an access token for Git repositories.

Click Create project.

Do not use your email instead of the username.

Guest access On-premise

Guest access can only be enabled for the JAICP On-premise platform version.

If you choose the Guest type of access, you should additionally fill in the Key field. The key protects external repositories with guest access. Generate a key or come up with your own.

Learn more about secret keys

Click Create project. After the project has been created, you can move on to creating a bot.

Local storage

Projects kept in the local storage are stored directly in JAICP.

Local projects are created quickly and do not require any extra repository administration, but they impose a number of restrictions:

  • No proper version control and no way to roll back to previous versions.
  • Difficulties for several developers to work on the project at the same time.
  • Projects become harder to maintain as their codebase grows.

To store the project locally, click Create and store project in JAICP on creating the project.

Changing the project location

Once a project is created, you cannot directly change its location from the local storage to an external repository or vice versa.

Transfer to an external repository

In order to transfer a project from the local storage to a repository, the following steps are required:

  1. Export the project as an archive and unzip it.
  2. Initialize a new Git repository in the directory containing the chatbot.yaml descriptor.
  3. Commit the changes and push them to an external repository.
  4. Create a new project and provide the external repository details.

Transfer to the local storage

Transferring back to the local storage is simple:

  1. Export the project as an archive.
  2. Create a new project stored in the local storage.
  3. Import the old project’s contents to the new one.